Star Wars : Metal Menace
by Zachary Osgood
Summary: If you keep up with Star Wars Rebels; have you ever wondered how Hera met Chopper? What started their partnership? This story tells just that, how they met that fateful day on Ryloth and the journey that lay before them in the Clone Wars. To be honest, I woke up in the middle of the night on my spring break in South Africa, and I just had to start writing! I hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

STAR WARS : Metal Menace

Chapter I

"You ready for this C1?" CT-6179 asked eagerly.

C1 beeped enthusiastically in agreement to the pilots question. The older model astromech swivels his orange head as he watches the Clone climb up the Y-wings boarding ladder and into the cockpit.

The pilot closes the canopy and says, "It's a simple mission really, bombing run on a narrow access point along one of Ryloth's canyons."

C1 beeps in a questionable tone that's message is projected on the pilots console scopes.

"No, I'm not sure why we're bombing the canyon. But they are General Windu's orders." The pilot primes the thrusters. "I do know, however, that this mission is suppose to be easy enough that heavy defenses are uncalled for; hence why Hot Shot won't be manning our gun this round."

C1 beeps again in a mocking tone.

"Yes, he wasn't too happy about missing this!"

"Cut the chatter Flash." Purple Squad Leader says through the comlink. "All wings: prepare for launch, Formation Delta-6 in chain sequence lift off. Standard procedure, boys."

The Republic Cruisers hangar doors open up slowly. Purple Squad Leader takes post after lift off with three other Y-wings before Flash and C1 take their turn. Once into space, Purple Squad forms into two even ranks of four, each rank in a wedge formation. From above, the formation appears to be two chevrons. Each bombers nav computer set for their drop point along Ryloth's rigid surface.

"This has to be the most boring mission yet." Hup'Em exaggerates.

"We have our orders Purple Six." Purple Leader counters.

"Oh, bring it down a little Zax!" Blaze laughs as the squadron enters Ryloths atmosphere, "Your always so uptight. Yeah, we got our orders, all Hup is saying is this is just-"

"Purple Two. Shove it. You don't realize how important this mission is."

"And that is?..." Flash prompts.

The coms go quite for a second before Zax continues, "We have to blow the ravine in order to-"

Suddenly, the scopes on Zax's fighter begin to flash bright red as the alarm notifying incoming craft sounds.

"We got company!"

"Vulture droids on our six!" Hup confirms.

"Second squad, break formation and take out those fighters! First squad, resume course, we have to get to the drop point!"

Flash bends his helmeted head back to look up at C1. "Well C1, looks like Hot Shots really going to be disappointed. See if you can man that rotary gun, we're gonna need it."

This is a very delicate operation. She has to sneak across the hall without one of the service droids noticing her or her mother hearing her footsteps from in the kitchen; which in the end, is her targeted destination.

The door to her room opens with a quiet swish. She slowly sticks her head out of the doorway and checks both ways down the hall. Nothing. She replaced her hard soled boots with soft slippers that will make her footsteps lighter. With one quick breath, she takes a leap of faith out into the hallway and proceeds to quickly tiptoe her way down the long corridor. She rounds the corner, still no droids or unexpected guests.

The kitchen door in sight.

She pokes one eye around the doorway to get a look into the kitchen. She sees dinner cooking on the stovetop - can smell it too - and the island counter, which on the end of it, is her target.

Malueruns. Three of them, nice and ripe from a shipment this morning.

She makes her move to go around the door frame, when suddenly, she hugs the wall again; her green head-tails making it a little difficult to get completely against her cover. She carefully glances back into the kitchen to see her mother back at the stovetop with a dish full of various vegetables.

She must make her move, she's gone this far, it's now or never. She slips into the kitchen as quiet as a Strill, creeping closer and closer to the Malueruns. Every step she takes, she watches the floor, not wanting to disturb anything that may be laying in her way. Across the kitchen, Brax, the loyal Kusak hound, lifts his head up from his nap to see the new visitor. She quickly puts a single finger to her lips, gesturing for the hound to keep quiet. But the Kusak just blinks lazily a couple times before returning to its afternoon slumber.

They're right in front of her, the Malueruns, just an arms length away. She reaches out for the thorny fruit, gets her fingers around one, and takes it away without making a sound. She has it. Now to make her get away, she quickly - and quietly - makes a run for the door.

When suddenly, she is stopped.

"Hera?" Her mother's flat voice calls from behind.

She's been discovered, mission failed. Hera closes her eyes tight and bites down on her lower lip as she turns around slowly in the doorway to face her mother. She holds the delicious fruit in front of her; no point hiding it now.

"What is that?" Her mother tilts her head and says, obviously knowing what it is.

"A Maluerun, mother."

"Is it for your brother?"

Hera shakes her head, her head-tails swing in front of her.

"It's for you then." She says as a statement rather than a question.

Hera nods, "Please, mother, I'm just so hungry."

Her mother roles her eyes and smiles, "Fine, but dinner will be ready soon, don't spoil it."

Hera smiles with glee. "Thank you mother!" She says before running off down the hall towards the front door to enjoy her Maluerun outside and watch the sunset.

Hera gets outside and sits on the first step. She looks out into the empty courtyard to see her younger brother twirling a stick around, acting as if he is fighting off an invisible enemy. She rolls her eyes, amused to watch him.

"Sean!" She calls, "You will have to call a temporary truce between you and your invisible friend! Come on, I'll share my Maluerun with you!"

Sean swings the stick from his hip one last time before dropping it in the dirt and walks up to his sister. He sits beside her and accepts her offer as he takes a half of the juicy fruit.

Sean protests, "I'm not fighting an 'invisible friend', Hera. I'm training for when I go fight the droid army with father."

"Your too young to fight, brother, the war on Ryloth will be over before you can even hold up a blaster right!"

Sean softly punches Hera in the arm as she laughs a little.

"Yeah and what about you? You still think your gonna fly off this planet and join their fight?"

"Maybe, all I need is a ship with adequate launch boosters and air cooled thrusters, and a hyperdrive would be nice to get me to the nearest spaceport."

"You're forgetting one thing."

"What."

"A ship."

Hera smiles slyly before looking up to the sky to watch the Noragile sore to their perch for the night. However, there is something else in the sky, and many of them. They seem to be glowing in the distance, like fire falling from the sky.

"What's that?" Sean asks, though he has a feeling Hera knows as much as he does.

Hera stands up and squints with her hand over her eyes to shield the glare of the first setting sun. They almost look like...ships.

"Trouble." Hera says grimly, "Someone's in big trouble."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

Another vulture droid breaks apart as C1 hits it with the rotary gun.  
"You got him C1!"  
Flash sees another droid flying in hot in the corner of his eye. "Watch your right!"  
C1 moves the turret and fires three double shot rounds at the fighter, but it's too late. The attacking droid opens fire and blasts the right side thruster. The bomber rocks as black smoke starts billowing out of the thrusters exhaust pipe.  
"We're hit." Flash says nonchalantly, "But we're still flying."  
"Purple Four!" Zax speaks through the comlink. "Your right exhaust is smoking, are you hit badly?"  
Without looking up, Flash says, "C1, I'll man he forward guns while you run a diagnostic on the ships functions!"  
C1 beeps in compliance.  
"Purple Four, Flash?" Zax asks again.  
"I read you. C1's running a diagnostic on damage control now."  
"You may have to set down after the run. We've lost over half our men!" Zax looks up through the canopy and is paralyzed in terror, "Look out! Suicides incom-"  
A vulture droid set on a suicide course collides directly into Zax canopy. His bomber erupts into an orb of flames, black smoke, and debris.  
"Zax!" Flash yells as he watches what remains of his brothers ship fly by.  
He looks back at his twelve o'clock and chills run down his spine.  
"Incoming!"  
Flash tries to veer to the right, C1 screeches with the maneuver. But the suicide droid is too fast, it slices through the Y-wings left wing as if it was nothing. Fire and exposed circuits spark from the deep gash as the emergency alarm sounds in the cockpit.  
"We're going down!"  
C1 gives out an electronic scream.  
"Ill to pull up as best I can!" The ground bellow gets closer by the heartbeat.

"Brace yourself!"

"Watch it!" Hera yells as she grabs her brother and throws themselves into the house doorway.  
The significantly damaged ship smashes into the ground and slides across the courtyard with a deafening screech until its nose crumples into a large boulder, stopping it with a jolt.  
Hera and Sean look on at the crashed fighter, amazed at what they just witnessed. Flames erupt from the ships engines, sparks sputter from the thrusters and demolished nose, and the canopy is filled with gray smoke.  
"Come on!" Sean cries out as he pushes past Hera.  
"Sean, wait!" Hera calls back catching up with him.  
The two siblings get to the canopy and try their hardest to get it open. But it won't budge more than three inches.  
"Sean." Hera says calmly, "Go get your stick."  
Sean nods as he runs back, grabs his stick, and runs back. The long staff is made of Wroshyr wood harvested from the trees of Kashyyyk. Their father gave it to Sean when he was younger after one of his smuggling journeys to the forested planet.  
Hera sticks one end of the stick in the small gap she and Sean were able to make, and begins to try and pry the canopy open with all her weight put on the opposite end. With enough effort, the top pops open. Smoke billows out and the distinctive smell of burning circuits fills the air around them. The masked pilot is slumped over to the side.  
Hera undos the safety straps, then gets an arm under his shoulder and lifts. "Help me get him out, Sean.

Hera transfers the pilots weight to Sean as she grabs his legs. Working together, they move off the bomber and half cary, half drag, the pilot clear of the wreck. They rest him down on the ground.  
The pilot groans as he comes back to consciousness. Hera removes his helmet to see the man's semi-dark complexion and the bloody gash on his head. She also notices the blood dripping from the cracks of his dirty white armor around his abdomen.  
"Sean," Hera says calmly again, "go get mother."  
Sean stands there looking at the dying Clone.  
"Sean."  
The boy glances at Hera before running back to the house to get their mother who is likely setting the table for dinner.  
Hera looks over the trooper as his eyes hazily begin to open. He raises a bloody hand, to which Hera gently takes.  
"Who...who are you?" He mutters.  
She says softly, "Hera, Hera Syndulla."  
The pilot coughs, "Syndulla...Cham, Cham Syndulla."  
Hera nods.

"Cham Syndulla is my father."  
"Mission..." the pilot swallows a lump of air, "Must finish mission. Please, please...Tell Cham."  
Hera shakes her head, not understanding, "What mission?"  
"Destroy the passageway, in the canyon...Stop, stop the Sep-Separatists." With that final word, the pilot uttered quietly as he lets go of his last breath.  
His hand in Hera's relaxes, and his body goes limp. Dead. Hera rests her hand on his eyebrows before closing his eyelids. Her inner-self screaming at her to break down and cry, but she forces herself to refrain from doing so. She has never witnessed someone die, but she understands the galaxy is at war, and many have died across many systems.  
Hera looks over at the still burning wreckage, and she just notices the orange top of an astromech still in the wreck. She gets up and hurries over to the droid to try and pull him from the ship. But just as the canopy, he won't budge. His gravity locks must still be engaged. She hits the droids top a couple times to see if he's still active.  
"Hey!" She beats on it again, "Hey bud, anyone home?"  
No answer.  
Hera thinks, she has to deactivate his gravity locks, but impossible at her position. She thinks harder.  
 _Unless_.  
She could fry the droids circuits, which in turn will disengage all current functions. Including gravity locks.  
Hera slips on her shock resistant gloves, puts her protective goggles over her eyes, and grabs two exposed electrodes in the cockpit. The red and blue wires create a spark as she tests them together. She yanks the wires out of the control panel as far as they will go, fortunately, they extend far enough to reach the stuck droid.  
"Buddy," she says, "if you can hear me, I'm sorry about this."  
Hera rests the two electrodes on the droids leg joints. The wires flash on contact with the astromechs metal body. It sputters and flashes as the current flows through him and its circuits are fried. Through the sound of he droid being shocked, Hera can hear the gravity locks give way with a pop.  
Hera tosses the cables and turns her attention back to pulling the droid out. She gets a grip around its head, and while using all her leg and upper body strength, she begins to pull him out of the socket inch by inch.  
Her arms are exhausted, but she clenches her teeth together and lets out a stressed moan as she gives one more pull. It's enough. The astromech slides out of the wreck and tumbles down until it lands flat on Hera. Hera lets out a gasp of air to the droids weight, and though her arms are already tired, she rolls the machine off her.  
She rests completely on the ground, taking slow and deep breaths, and looks up to the now dark night sky. Through the corner of her eyes, she looks over at the fried mech, "I hope you were worth all that."  
C1 just stares blankly through his dark optics.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

"-we go, that should do it." That same sweet voice C1 heard a while ago comes back.  
His optics restore as functions restart. The image flickers at first, then goes to static, before resolving and going normal again. C1 can see now a green Twi'lek sitting on her knees as she performs a manual diagnostic.  
"WHOOP! WHOOP!" C1 cries out as he makes a defensive position. He also notices his audio input dilator has changed.  
The Twi'lek falls backwards and covers her face. "Hey! Hey! Take it easy!" She says - or barks - "You got some way of thanking someone who rescued you."  
C1 lets out a questionable sounding "whoop".  
"Yeah, buddy," she pronounces "buddy", "I pulled you from that fiery wreck."  
Another question sounding whoop, only this one quieter and a bit sincere.  
The girl sits up and hugs her knees, "No, your friend didn't make it. I'm sorry."  
C1 bends forward, as if hanging his head, and lets out a sad moan.  
"You actually understand that thing?" Another Twi'lek walks into the room, this one a male and looking slightly younger than the girl.  
She turns her head to face him, "You don't work on mechs as long as I do and _not_ understand their binary code."  
She turns her attention back to C1. "I'm Hera." She says, "Hera Syndulla." Hera points behind her at the other, "That's my little brother, Sean."  
C1 whoops a few times and extends out one of the grasping arms built into the side of his dome.

Hera takes the droids claw and shakes it like she would any organic being. "C1-10P." Hera says, "Nice to meet you."  
"I'm sorry about the audio dilator." She says moving closer to C1, "I checked your chip, it wasn't destroyed, but it's beyond repair. At least beyond what I'll be able to fix, given what I got to work with. Certainly not for a lack of skill." Hera smiles to that last part.  
C1 rolls his center foot out to move forward.

"Oh no wait!" Hera warns right as C1 topples over on his right side.

The droid lets out a series of whoops and beeps as if complaining that all he can see now is the floor. Hera bends down to pick C1 back up. "Sorry about that." She says as she props him up against the table littered with droid parts and tools.

C1 starts to actually complain about the sudden fall while Sean stands in the doorway laughing. C1 notices how Sean finds his humility amusing. In response, C1 growels as he extends both his grasping arms and attempts to charge the orange skinned Twi'lek. However Hera is quick to lay her hands on him to prevent another fall.

"Wo, hey!" Hera says holding the droid back, "As much as I wouldn't mind you going at him, I'm afraid you simply can't. Your missing your right tread."

C1 swivels his head to find Hera is right, his right treat is gone. He faces Hera again and asks what happened to his leg.

"Well, your tread was shot, suspension cracked, and your conector joint was bent to the point I couldn't salvage it." Hera rises to her feet, holds her chin up by her thumb and index finger as she thinks. "However….I may have an old C-series tread lying about. It's an older model, and older droids is pretty much all I have."

Hera walks around her shop, looking through bins of old astromech parts and scouring the shelves and racks of limbs for all kinds of droids. C1 watches her feel around a shelf of protocol droid heads she can't quite reach, until she gets behind them and pulls something down.

"Ah-ha!" she says happily.

She holds it in her arms as she scans it thoroughly.

"I knew I had an old C1 part around here somewhere."

"You keep inventory of this mess?" Sean teases.

Hera side eyes her brother, "Sean Syndulla, you know I don't keep messes, I have my-"

" _Ways of organizing everything_." Sean finishes her statement, "So you've told me before."

Hera smiles and says sarcastically, "Then I wouldn't think I'd have to remind you twice."  
C1 laughs to Heras playful jab.

"Alright." Hera says getting down on one knee in front of C1. She holds the olive green leg out in front for C1 to see.

"Like I said, it's an older model, but for you it will do."

Hera moves C1 off the tables and carefully sets him down on his side. She takes the "new" leg and aligns its extension joint to C1's receiver port, with one good push down, the tread easily pops into place. Without looking, Hera grabs the welding torch from off the tabletop before putting her goggles over her eyes. She places the tip of the torch down in the crevasse between C1's body and leg, with the push of a button, the torch activates and sparks fly from off the droid as the joint is welded securely on. Once Hera is done, she puts the welder away and takes her eye protection off before having one final look at her work.

"That should do it," she says confidently, "give it a try."

C1 extends his center tread and rolls forward without any issues. He lets out a joyful set of whoops as he circles around Hera's shop before stopping and spinning around a couple times.

Hera smiles and rolls her eyes, "Your welcome."

C1 stops and laughs as he faces Sean, lets out his grasping arms, and charges him.

"Hey!" Sean yells as he runs out into the hall trying to flee the pursuing mech.

Hera hurries out in the hallway to watch C1 chase Sean around the hallway, laughing the whole time.

"Hera!" Sean says running past her, "Get this metal menace to stop!"

Hera laughs, "Sorry brother, his motivator is probably damaged, and I don't have new ones lying around _my mess_." Hera refers to Seans snarky comment earlier. "Besides, I kinda like this attitude."

"Can't say I do!"

C1 makes a sharp turn and gets right under Sean's feet. Sean trips up over the droid and falls flat on the ground, C1 laughs to the boys fumble.

"I think he's warming up to you." Hera teases.

Sean gets back on his feet and glares at the mech.

"Yeah," he says without taking his eyes off C1, "well if this is how he warms up to people, hate to think what he'll do to mom _or dad_."

Hera knows their father wouldn't put up with C1 acting like that with him, especially with his wife. "Don't worry." she protests, "He'll be fine. After all, he didn't do that to me."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV

There is nothing but awkward silence around the dinner table. Hera and Sean sit across from each other while their mother sits at the head of the table. Typically their father sits at the head, but in his absence, their mother has taken his place in the household.

Hera takes a bite of the grilled Gardon her mother prepared, while Sean holds his head up in his hand as he pushes aside the steamed vegetables. The topic of discussion not being the crash at their door bewilders him.

"Sean." his mother says glancing over at him, "If you want to get strong and fight beside your father, your going to have to eat."

Sean puts down the fork. "Why are we not talking about the dead Clone?"

"Sean!" their mother says blatantly to her sons tad insensitive comment.

"What? A man died in front of our house, why wouldn't we talk about it?"

"Men die every day in this war, son, that man died in the line of duty as thousands more have."

Sean stares down at his food before looking across the table at his older sister.

"What did he say to you?" he asks.

Hera sets down the cup of Jogan juice she just put up to her lips to take a drink.

"He didn't say much." She recalls, "He knew father, and he went on about his mission."

" _Which is?_ "

"They were making a bombing run over a canyon, why, I'm not certain. He died before he he could explain any more, but he insisted to tell father."

"Father won't be back for another three days. Whatever his reason may be for bombing this canyon, it may be too late." Sean thinks. "Unless, we find out what his mission was, and finish it ourselves."

Their mother stands up abruptly. "No."

"But mother."

"No! There are grown men, strong and trained to fight this war, and yet thousands across the galaxy have still been killed from it. I will not allow my _young_ children who do not possess such experience as they do, to fight in it. I will not send my children to their deaths."

She picks up her empty plate as she states, "And your father certainly won't allow it."

Sean slides his chair back and hurries out of the dining room, leaving his sister and mother alone. His mother picks up his half full plate and walks towards the kitchen. She stops at the doorway and looks back at her daughter.

"That astromech you pulled from the crash. You may have to wipe its memory bank before your father comes home."

"Why?"

"Your father may hate the Separatists, but that doesn't mean he trusts the Republic. He won't pass up the opportunity to seize a Republic astromech with a memory bank full of the Grand Army's tactics and operations."  
"Father would take C1 away?"

Her mother turns around, "at the moment, he cares most about the liberation of Ryloth." She looks across the dining room and into Cham's private study, she can see the family mural on the wall. She sighs. "Even if it means putting aside family and personal attachment."

Her mother exits into the kitchen, leaving Hera alone to her thoughts. She knows her mother is right, since the droid army invaded, her father has only cared for Ryloth. He wouldn't care that Hera pulled C1 from the wreck and restored him herself. He wouldn't care how much she calls the little astromech her friend. He would only see him as an asset for his renegade.

Unless the droid shows no use to Cham, such as having no memory of the Republic, Hera may never see C1 again.

Hera's torn, she wants to keep C1 from being taken away, but at the same time she doesn't want to wipe his memory. His memory, she knows is what gives him the personality and charm she has grown to like. Worst of all, if C1 loses his memory, he won't have any recollection of her.

" _Whoop? Whoop?_ "

Hera hears the droids distinctive tone. She instantly looks to her right and sees him peering at her from around a column.

"You heard that?"

C1's tone tells Hera he did.

"You did." Hera frowns as she repeats him, "I don't want to do it. But father will take you away if I don't."

C1 rolls up to Hera with a series of whoops and beeps.

Hera's forehead furrows as she thinks. "We can try, but it won't last forever. Father will find out in time, hopefully by then we'll have another plan, _or_ by some miracle, he'll have a change in heart."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter V

She forgot the antenna. Hera was so focused on getting C1 even functional, she overlooked some of the smaller details. Something she rarely does, and never liked to do. C1's original antenna was cracked in the crash, so she had to salvage an antenna off a broken down R1 unit. C1 sits still as Hera makes one final adjustment to straighten the part out.

"There you go." She says as she slouches back in her chair, "Too bad that Y-wing didn't have any spare parts for you in it's emergency supply."

C1 says a couple whoops as Sean steps into the doorway of Hera's workshop.

"It's too bad that Clone didn't tell you anymore about his mission." He says.

C1 spins around to face Sean and lets out a series of angry sounding whoops and beeps.

Sean glares at the droid. "What's that metal menace saying now?'

Hera looks up from C1 to Sean, " _Flash_. The Clone, he says his name was Flash."

Sean eases up, "Sorry, _Flash_. Why didn't Flash say anything more about his mission?"

"He didn't get a chance." Hera shakes her head, "He was barely holding onto life as it was." She pauses. "It doesn't matter anyway, mother and father won't allow us to finish his mission, and I don't want to reveal C1 to father just yet."

Sean frowns, "So your saying do nothing? I'd think you of all people would support this plan. You're always eager to help others; So why wouldn't you do this if it meant helping all of Ryloth?"

Hera gets on her feet, C1 standing between her and Sean, she is clearly frustrated by her brothers comment.

"It's not that I don't care about Ryloth, Sean. It's just….It's just, what _can_ we do? We're not an army, we have nothing to fight with, and we don't even know where those bombers drop point was, _or_ what they were suppose to bomb."

Sean walks slowly from out the doorway and towards Hera.

"Sister, when the droid army invaded, Father had nothing. He had no army, he had no weapons. He did however have hope, and it was with that hope he gathered a malita, followers who shared his vision of a free Ryloth. They never had much to fight with, they still don't, but as long as they have heart and the will to fight, then that's all they need to fight this war."

Hera's tight face relaxes, she knows he's right. No matter how much she resents her father, she can respect how he started his rebellion from nothing. Before the Separatists invaded, Cham Syndulla was just another run of the galaxy smuggler going planet to planet finding one small job to the next. When smuggling runs became difficult, and when the war came to Ryloth, Cham came back home to fight for those he called "his people".

She nods slowly, "Alright, I see your point."

"Then you're willing to help?"

Hera thinks one last time, there is no going back if she says yes. She looks down at C1 whose gears click as he turns his head to look at her.

She nods, "I'll do it. But there is still one problem, how are we going to find out what the bombers target was? The Y-wing is far too damaged to be able to access it's programed flight course and target system."

Sean smiles slyly, "Really? You have to ask? You're smarter than this Hera." Sean gestures a hand toward C1-10P.

"C1?" Hera prompts before the answer comes to her. "Of course! C1 is bound to have the mission data in his memory bank. The very thing Mother said to erase."

"You haven't done that already, right?" Sean raises an eyebrow.

Hera smiles, "Nope."

C1 spins his head around as he retracts his grasping arms and lets out some whoops of joy.

"C1," Hera says, "plug into the holoprojector in the wall there." She points to a terminal along the right wall. "See if you can find anything in your memory bank on your mission."

C1 gladly complies. He moves over to the terminal, extends his linkage arm, and accesses the terminal. A moment later, and an image of a map is projected onto Hera's workbench from above. Hera and Sean approach the bench as C1 starts his visual presentation.

A group of triangles appear on the far end of the map in an organized formation. Sean points to them.

"There, there is the air squadron."

The triangles glide over the map and it's grid lines until they reach what looks to be a dip in the map.

"That must be the canyon." Hera says.

The bombers dive down into the canyon, the map shifts with them to get an overhead view. They run through the canyon, avoiding the rugged rock formations until they get to a point where the walls start to come together to form a narrow ravine that appears to continue for several miles.

The bombers pull up from the canyon as a red orb starts flashing at the mouth of the revine.

"And there's the drop point." Sean observes, "But why?"

Hera looks at C1, "C1, what's the purpose for bombing the revine?"

C1 whoops a couple times in a confused tone.

"He's not sure. The significance of the drop point remains unknown in his memory."

"Maybe that's for us to find out."

Hera rests her chin on her fingertips, "There doesn't seem to another way. Next question though, is where is this canyon?"

"C1 should be able to find that, should he?"

Hera smiles, "I have no doubt he can, and he should with that - er, _new_ \- antenna." She looks over her shoulder, "C1?"

C1 whoops and gives a little solute towards her. The antenna raises up a bit from his head before spinning around to make its scan of the area. After a few seconds, C1 knows where they're at and where the canyon's at. He lets out a series of whoops and beeps telling his findings.

"That's not far at all."

"Where is it?" Sean asks attentively.

"The drop zone is only three klicks from here."

"That's great! We can get there in just a few minutes by speeder, we can scout the area out."

"Right. But we have another problem now, Mother and Father. We will have to get past Mother, and Father will be returning home tomorrow."

Sean nods, "We can run the plan by Father tomorrow, he may decide to help us."

Hera rolls her eyes, "And what about C1?"

"We'll tell him the Clo-" Sean looks over at C1, who adjusts himself to face Sean, "We'll tell him _Flash_ , let us in on the plan before he died and we recovered the data log from the Y-wing."

Hera thinks.

"We may." she says, "But we'll have to be careful what we say, if we tell too much or imply that we are willing to take on the mission ourselves, it could jeopardize everything."

Sean nods, "Agreed, we will execute the first part of our plan tomorrow. Until then, I'm going to bed, there has been a lot of excitement today and I have grown tired."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter VI

Cham only looked briefly on the crashed Y-wing as he rode his Blurgg through the courtyard. The Blurgg lets out a groan as Cham dismounts the creature and embraces the arms of his son, who comes running out of the house. His mother walks up from behind him to put her arm around her husband and kisses the side of his cheek.

Hera, however, stands in the doorway of the house with her arms crossed. She hasn't felt as much compassion for her father as Sean has since the war on Ryloth started.

Cham has to bend down slightly to hug his daughter, the top of Hera's head just hits level with his shoulders. Hera leans into her father as he hugs her, but she doesn't wrap her arms around him.

"Hello Father." is all she says.

"It's good to see you Hera."

Cham continues into the house with Sean at his side. Their mother stops in the doorway beside Hera to lean over, take her shoulder, and whispers into her ear just enough so Cham wouldn't hear.

"Give him a chance, Hera. The war leaves its toll on everyone, it's hard enough on your father to go back and forth between family and the front."

Hera says nothing, just stares at the ground blankley. Her mother lets go of her as she strides back into the house.

Hera can suddenly hear the familiar sound of C1's rotary gears turning in his head. She looks off to her right past the doorway to see the droid reveal itself. He says a few whoops in a questionable tone.

Hera shakes her head, "You're going to have to lay low out here for awhile, C1."

The droid grumbles, clearly frustrated by her order.

"I'm sorry, but I can't risk Father taking a peek inside my workshop and finding a Republic astromech." Hera turns to walk into the house before looking back at C1 and jokingly says, "If you get bored, there are plenty of Strill you can chase away. It would be a good opportunity to test out the voltage on your linkage arm I amped up last night."

C1 seems to laugh at the thought of chasing and shocking Strill for awhile. He extends his linkage arm and some sparks fly.

Cham sits at the desk in his study and watches his son swing his Wroshyr stick around in a show of his skill in close combatives. Sean swings the stick over his head before swiping it down as if striking it across an opponent's head. Cham claps his hands and laughs in amusement.

"Very good, Sean." he compliments, "You've been practicing, I can tell. You will be fighting in the war in no time."  
Sean stops and smiles, "Thank you, Father."

The door to the study opens and Hera stands before the threshold waiting for her father's permission to enter.

"Ah, Hera, come in." Cham says welcomingly.

Hera walks into her father's study and towards the empty chair in front of his desk. She rarely goes into the room, her father has always prefered it if he was there when she does go in. He has his reasons though, there are artifacts he's collected over the years that are displayed along the walls. Things he wouldn't want her or Sean to touch. However, one item Hera has always been intrigued with; the Kalikori.

The family heirloom has been passed down through the Syndulla family for generations. Each generation leaving its mark on the tall totem made of various materials from wood to a few precious metals. She stares through the corner of her eye at the artifact sitting on its pedestal built into the wall and under the overhead light.

Hera sits down before her father, for a moment she looks past him at the mosaic of her family in the wall. The image consists of a mix of colored glass, red clay from Ryloths earth, and delicately cut white stones harvested from a nearby canyon. The image is of her father sharply dressed in a blue tunic aside her mother in a mud red blouse with a white skull cap on her head. Her mother is quite beautiful while Hera has come to think that the image is one of the few where her father smiles - _somewhat_.

Standing between her mother and father, is the younger version of herself. Hera always

hatted herself in this picture, she doesn't care much for her wide eyed expression and her bold smile compared to her parents. She also wishes she'd worn something different the day they posed for the picture the artist would base the mosaic off of. The jacket she's wearing looks like a work coat because it is, and the skull cap is actually a bandana. She remembers tinkering around in her shop that morning, she didn't have time to change and no matter how much her parents insisted for her to change and that she would regret it later, she still took the picture in her work clothes. After all, they are what she's most comfortable in. Still, she kinda wishes she'd listened to them way back when.

"How can I help you, Hera?" Cham asks with a smile across his face.

Hera pays little attention to her father's facial gesture, "We need to talk about something that came up recently."

"Let me guess, it has something to do with the downed Republic Y-wing in my front lawn?"

"Yup!" Sean says enthusiastically.

Hera continues, "The pilot didn't make it, he died in my arms. However before he died, he was telling me about his mission."

Hera can tell by the raise of her father's eyebrows, his interest level has gone up.

"I'm listening." Cham's tone sounds more like the one he uses on his militia.

"The pilot said his squadron was on a bombing run to take out a narrow ravine in a nearby canyon, he passed before he could reveal the significance of the ravine."

Cham hums in his throat, "And where is the pilots astromech? Surely the droid would have information in it's databanks on the mission."

Hera can feel Sean's eyes on her back from behind her.

She quickly comes up with a lie, "The droid was nowhere to be found. My guess is it ejected before the crash, likely destroyed somewhere along the plains."

The disappointment is clear on Cham's face, but he is quick to mask it before his family.

"We know where the canyon is though." Sean states.

Hera adds, "We found the squadrons drop zone in the Y-wings targeting system, which I recovered from the wreck."

Sean steps up beside his older sister, "We want to complete Flash's mission, Father."

" _Flash?"_ Cham curiously says.

 _Blastit, Sean!_ Is all Hera can think.

She comes up with another lie, "The Clone told me his name, too."

Cham says nothing, Hera has a feeling he is skeptical of their story.

Cham finally breaks his silence after what feels like an eternity, "So you know where the bombers were heading, and you want to complete _Flash's_ mission?"

"Well," Sean says, "we were hoping you could help us, Father."

Cham shakes his head, "I'm sorry, but I cannot help in this."

Hera blinks a couple times, baffled by her fathers conclusion, "But, Father, there must be an important reason the Republic tried to bomb the ravine. If we do nothing then-"

Cham slams his hand down on the table, "We are in the middle of a battle, Hera. Our people are depleted in both food and ammunition, our main supply chain with the Republic garrison was lost yesterday and my scouts even reported Jedi Master Ima-Gun Di was killed. I cannot afford to take men off the front line to finish this Clones mission when there isn't enough details as to why the canyon was targeted, for all we know, it's already been destroyed by the rest of the squadron."

Sean steps up to the desk, "Then let us take care of the mission."

Hera sharply jabs Sean in his side with her elbow.

"No." Cham says now mad, "Absolutely not. You two are not going to take on the droid army alone, I've seen far too many of our people killed by those crosswired clankers. You two wouldn't stand a chance." Cham rests his head in his hands. "Go on, both of you, leave me be for now."

Hera and Sean look at each other before leaving the room at their fathers request. Their hope now of getting help depleted.

Cham's faint voice stops the two at the door. "Tomorrow I must return to the front lines. I've heard from my scouts of another Jedi with Republic reinforcements traveling along the Lessu cliffs. I'm going to find him and possibly discuss uniting forces, I hate to admit it, but we need the help. This Jedi, I've heard much about him, apparently he is highly respected amongst the Jedi. His name is Mace Windu. If this Jedi and I can come to an agreement, maybe then I can help you with this mission. But until then, stay out of it."

Hera and Sean nod in agreement before leaving the room to help their mother prepare for dinner.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter VII

Cham left early the next morning before sunrise, the front line is twelve klicks from the Syndulla household; a nearly two hour journey by Blurgg. Hera never said goodbye to her father, only watched him off from the second floor balcony. C1 stayed by her side, the droid was short enough that he couldn't be seen over the balconies rail.

C1 and Hera went back in the house and towards Cham's study. There's one thing of her fathers in there that she wants to get, even though her mother and father wouldn't allow her to _borrow_ it.

Hera tires to open the door.

Locked.

She hums a little as she thinks before looking to C1.

The astromech pivots his head and lets out a whoop.

"If I am able to pull out the wiring to the doors locking mechanism, do you think you can unlock the it without shortcirciting yourself?"

C1 lets out some angry whoops and beeps.

"Because unlike you, I can't have my functions drive restored if I get fried."

The droid lets out an exasperated sigh before agreeing to unlock the door.

Hera pulls out her torque wrench to take the bolts off the thin panel to the doors wiring. She scans the intricate web of colorful wires, trying to figure out which powers the doors electro-lock. Hera runs her finger along a blue and yellow wire that leads into an adapter she is confident is the locking mechinism.

"That looks to be the right wire. Only thing is, it's markings indicate a high charge, if you try to pull it from the adaptor you'll likely fry every circuit in your chasey."  
Hera thinks, "Maybe if we-"  
C1 pushes past Hera with his plasma cutter extended. It takes less than a second before C1 cuts through the wire with just a small spark and glow of the torch; which Hera has to quickly cover her eyes to avoid looking right into the blinding light. C1 backs away leaving the end of the wire half melted and with carbon scoring surrounding where the wire was cut.

The door opens with a swoosh.

C1 laughs, proud of his quick handy work.

"That's not exactly what I was hoping for." Hera scolds C1, "Now were going to have to replace the wire before Father comes home again."

C1 grables a deep tone.

"Well, yes it worked, but it's going to make things difficult later."

C1 complains quietly as he rolls into Cham's study with his head spinning and grasping arms out. Hera looks once over her shoulder, making absolutely sure her mother isn't around, before following the droid in.

"We can't take too long. If Mother finds us in here, we might as well scrap the entire mission."

C1 whoops in agreement.

"Watch the door would you? Holler if we're in trouble."

Hera moves to the other side of the room and behind her fathers desk. She starts rummaging through the drawers trying to find what shes looking for, but with no luck. All she can find are some receipts from offworld shipments, some old datapads with logs from Cham's smuggling days, and lists of hideouts and outposts for the Freedom Fighters.

 _But where is it?_ Hera thinks

Suddenly, C1 lets out a cry of frantic whoops and beeps as he flails his grasping arms.

"Mother." Hera says quietly, "You're going to have to try to distract her."

C1 whoops a question.

"I don't know, be you."

Hera gets down on her knees before crawling under the cramped desk. She hugs her legs as she pushes her back up against the desk drawers, her knees shoved into her chest, and her head tails make moving her head near impossible. She is quiet, not daring to make a noise, she's even cautious to not breath too loud.

She listens closely for what's going on past the desk.

She hears C1 let out a few whoops as if trying to get her mothers attention.

 _C1-10P what are you doing?!_ Hera thinks.

"Can I help you?" Hera can hear her mother's calm voice.

" _Whoop! Whoop! Wubububu!"_ C1 makes random noises.

"How did you get in Cham's office? What kind of skills has Hera been programing you with?"

Hera can hear C1's struts spinning wildly. She looks out to see the astromech go around the desk a few times acting like a fool with his grasping arms, linkage arm, and torch extended. C1 looking as if his functions are going haywire.

Hera has to bite her tongue and cover her mouth tightly as she desperately tries not to laugh.

"Looks like Hera's still got some work to do." her mother playfully says, "Come on droid, Cham wouldn't want you in his office."

C1 whoops in agreement before leaving with Hera's mother.

Hera waits for about a minute before letting out a breath of relief. She smiles to C1's charming little way of getting rid of her mother.

She gets ready to crawl out from under the desk when she looks up at its underside. She smiles when she sees what she's been looking for securely strapped to the bottom of the desk. She reaches up and carefully removes her fathers Blurrg-1120 holdout blaster.

With the small blaster pistol in hand, Hera crawls out of the desk and back onto her feet; glad to relieve the cramping in her back and legs. She balances the blaster in her hand as she tests its weight, it's surprisingly light. She checks to make sure the blaster isn't charged, it's not.

Knowing that her mother could come back any moment, Hera easily conceals the small pistol in her pants cargo pocket. She hurries out of her father's office to put the the doors wiring panel back on and to find C1.

Sean was able to convince their mother that he needs to be taught how to drive a landspeeder, and that Hera should teach him considering Cham taught her when she was younger than him. She allowed it, and granted them to use Cham's Gian V-44 landspeeder as long as they are back home by dark and to return quickly if they see any droid bombers. Unaware the two are going on a recon mission of the canyon and investigate the Republic bombers drop point.

Given the little time they have to get to the canyon, investigate, and return home, Hera takes the yolk deciding to save Sean's driving lesson for another time. Hera's goggles are down to keep the dust in the wind out of her eyes. Sean, sits in the passenger seat acting as navigator with C1 to help in the rear.

Hera has to raise her voice to be heard over the landspeeders roaring repulsor engine, "How far are we to the canyon?"

C1 whoops loudly a couple times.

"Not far," Sean confirms, "it should be just up ahead."

Indeed Sean and C1 are correct, the dust clouds lighten up to reveal the massive gorge in Ryloths crust. Hera's eyes go wide behind her goggles and she gets a mouthful of dust as her jaw drops to the sight of the fast approaching cliff.

"Quick turn down the accelerator!" she orders Sean.

Sean grabs the accelerator lever and pulls it back while Hera takes a hard turn on the yolk. The left side of the landspeeder grazes the ground sending earth flying as she sharply turns the speeder left. The speeder rides the cliff ledge for a brief moment at a forty-five degree angle before leveling out again.

C1 expresses his amount of frustration and disbelief through a long series of angry whoops and shrills.

Sean lifts his head up to get a look around - his orange face now a bit more pale.

"I'm with the rust bucket on that." he mocks, "That was too close to crashing for my likes."

Hera raises her goggles onto her white skullcap as she scowls at Sean.

"Sean Syndulla, I _never_ crash, and you know that. If that was the case, you wouldn't be alive."

C1 laughs.

Sean opens his mouth, but is stopped by his sister, "Think of something smart latter, we don't have much time."

Hera jumps out over the side and takes the blaster out of her cargo pocket.

"Father's Blurrg-1120." Sean says eyeing the blaster.

"Just an extra precaution, the Republic was going to bomb this canyon for a reason, and I just hope we don't _run into_ that reason."

The sound of C1 going berserk is heard behind them. They turn around to see the astromech - still in the landspeeder - fidgeting anxiously in its place, with it's antenna raised and spinning.

"What's that scrap heap saying?" Sean asks without looking at Hera.

Hera looks at Sean, "He's detecting a distress signal, one only found on Republic frequencies."

"The rest of the bombers squadron? Survivors?"

"It's a possibility. But it could also be a trap."

Sean shakes his head and looks at Hera.

"How so?"

"If the Separatists found the pilots, they were likely executed. They may have sent out the distress signal from the Republics downed Y-wing's in order to lure a rescue party in."

C1 whoops a few times.

"I agree." Hera says, "The least we can do is take a careful look at their crash site."

Sean nods and looks to C1, "In that case, lead on C1."

C1's thruster activates to launch out of the landspeeder and next to Hera. The droid extends a grasping arm and motions for the group to follow him with two whoops. Hera and Sean follow close behind as C1's scanner continues to locate the nearby Y-wings distress signal.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter VIII

C1 guides Sean and Hera along the ridge towards the distress signal. They keep their distance from the ledge, just as a precaution. If there are any battle droids in the canyon, it's in their best interests to remain unnoticed. To be safe however, Hera follows close behind C1 with her blaster ready. Sean is directly behind Hera with his Wroshyr stick; Hera hopes he won't be in a position to use it.

Up ahead, the ground dips into a naturally formed ramp or walkway that leads down into the canyon.

C1 stops, his antenna paused with the dish facing the canyon. He whoops a couple times telling Hera where the signal is coming from, but she already knows.

"He says the signal is coming from in the canyon." she says with her voice low.

"And I take it that's our way down?" Sean says quietly like Hera.

"I don't like it. There's hardly any cover, and if this turns out to be a trap, there's no way we will be able to get out of the canyon in time."

Sean plants one end of the Wroshyr stick in the earth.

"That's a risk we may just have to take." Sean grimly says.

Hera looks to C1, the droid nods to the best his metallic frame will allow.

"Fine. But promise me that if things go wrong and I tell you to run, you will."

Sean nods slowly, "I promise."

"Then let's go."

C1 whoops with excitement. Hera tells him to lead on and the droid complies with his grasping arms extended.

The group stops just before the ramp down into the canyon. C1 spins his head around to whoop and beep at Hera in a questioning tone.

"I'm not taking point." Hera playfully smirks, "You're the one with the frequency scanner in your head. Besides, we will have to spread out going down, it will help us keep a low profile against the rock and keep us from being an easy target if this does turn out to be a trap."

C1 shakes his head repeatedly, arguing with Hera's plan.

"Of course you don't like it, but don't worry, I got you covered. I'm not that bad of a shot."

Sean scoffs, "And how much experience do you have with that blaster?"

"Enough. Father showed me how to use it once."

" _Once._ " Sean immediately points out.

"Yes, and I'm a fast learner." Hera smiles before turning back to C1, "Now get going."

C1 grumbles and groans as he rolls his struts forward, as he gets further away, the sound of his complaining becomes much more faint. Hera takes that as her cue to go next. Once she is about twenty five paces from Sean, he follows behind her.

Given how steep the canyon ramp is and all the loose gravel at their feet, it makes it difficult for Hera to walk down without falling. Sean has his Wroshyr stick to help balance him, and C1's struts are designed for difficult terrain, however Hera has nothing to balance herself. If she falls, she's going to slide - _or roll_ \- down into the canyon. She must concentrate on her footing to avoid slipping.

She takes her eyes off the ground to see C1 has made it to the ramp's base. The droid spins his head around to quietly cheer his counterparts on; that, or _bragging_ that he got down the slope without any difficulty.

Hera is going with option two. One thing she's learned about that droid is that he's a bit of a-

 _Uh-oh,_ is all Hera can think as she loses focus on where she steps.

She hits a patch of gravel and the ground slips out from under her. Fortunately, she is able to fall backwards and land on her backside rather than her front, but that doesn't stop her from sliding down the steep slope towards C1.

"Hera!" Sean yells, disregarding the risk of possible battle droids being near if this is a trap.

C1 throws his arms around as he backs out of Hera's path. The Twi'lek rolls a couple of times before coming to a stop at C1's struts. She gets on her hands and knees before rising back on her feet, she's scraped up a little with a bruise on her head. She rubs the back of her neck as Sean comes down half running, _half tumbling_ , to Hera's side.

"Are you alright?" He asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

C1 whoops sarcastically.

Hera rolls her eyes at the droid, "Thanks for the observation, I didn't notice the loose gravel back there."

C1 laughs to his smart comment before the group walks out into the canyon. They get around the ramp to find a crashed Y-wing smashed into the canyon wall. One of the thrusters is gone, likely what brought the bomber down. Carbon scoring and deep scrapes line the body. The droid positioned in the socket is fried beyond restoring. Finally, the canopy is sealed with cracks in the glass and the right side window panel has been busted out.

Hera squints her eyes as she tries to see clearly inside the cockpit. She can just vaguely make out the white helmet of a Clone pilot, just like Flash had on when she pulled him from the wreck in front of her house. They get ten feet from the wreck and Hera can tell the helmet appears to be slumped over.

"Think he's alive?" Sean asks as he stops with C1.

Hera continues to carefully walk towards the craft.

"Stop! Stay where you are!" a frantic voice demands from behind them.

All three spin around quickly to see a man standing not far from them, with a slight bit of terror on his dark toned face. Hera recognises the face - _and the armor_ , he is an exact image of Flash before he died. The man in front of her is undeniably a Clone.

" _What?"_ is all Hera can say.

"Step away from the Y-wing. Now!"

Sean and Hera step back slowly. C1 however, flies past the two on his middle strut and towards the Clone while making joyful whoops.

" _C1?"_ the Clone says confused before his face lightens up, "C1! How did you get here?"

The Clone looks from C1 to Hera and Sean. "Where did you find this droid?"

"Hera pulled him from the wreck." Sean explains.

"The wreck?" the Clone's eyebrow raises slightly, "So then, _Flash?_ "

Hera steps forward, "He didn't make it, I'm sorry."

The Clone bows his head in silence.

"C1 picked up your distress signal, which is what brought us down here." Hera goes on to explain, "As we are aware, your squadron took quite a hit on a bombing run over the canyon. We were hoping to find survivors."

The Clone looks up, "You did, but there aren't many." His gaze goes past Hera. "It's alright! They're friendlies!"

Hera expected the trooper in the Y-wing to come out, when really another pilot comes out from behind a rock past the crashed ship. The Clone hurries up to them, this one with his helmet on and the airway tubes detected from it.

"Flash was our friend, and most of all our brother." the first Clone says, "I'm CT-1185, 'Hup'Em' is my nickname, but the boy's typically call me 'Hup'." Hup gestures to the second Clone, "And that's Blaze."

Blaze nods to Sean and Hera. "My ship crashed not that far from here, you were likely picking up the distress signal from me." He nods over to the Y-wing Hera tried to approach. "That ones just a decoy."

"A decoy?" Sean asks curiously.

"Yes." Hup says, "Sorry I yelled at you, but I had to. That ships rigged with so many charges, you would have triggered detonation with just three more steps, and this whole part of the canyon would go up in smoke."

"Why set it to explode?"

Blaze laughs in his throat, "Just in case the Sepie's get too curious."

"The Separatists." Hera points out, "You've seen them come by then?"

"Only once, and it wasn't even a patrol. It was simply a convoy heading east. Whatever those Clanker's were guarding is clearly more important than stopping to search the junk pile."

Hup steps up closer to Hera and Sean. Hera just now noticing the DC-15S blaster clenched in his right hand.

"So you know how we got here." he inquires, "Now we want to know how _you_ got here."

Hera glances over at Sean, "We can trust them."

Sean doesn't hesitate to agree with her.

"While yes, we were hoping to find more survivors. We were really here to finish Flash's mission." she reveals.

"Bomb the revine?" Blaze says half heartedly, "You're joking, without the bombers we don't have the firepower. It's impossible."

"You rigged that bomber with plenty of explosives." Sean protests, "Why not use that?"

Hup and Blaze look at each other for a moment as if communicating telepathically so Sean and Hera won't hear them.

Blaze looks back at the siblings. "Alright, fair enough. But if you're serious in helping complete our mission, you must be aware of what you're going into. This won't be easy, what you are going into is war."

Hup adds, "We cannot force you to do this or not. The decision you make is entirley on your own terms."

"We have already decided to fight." Hera immediately states.

C1 whoops in agreement.

Sean pipes in, "We are not afraid to fight a war for the sake of our home."

Blaze laughs once, and only once, before saying softly, " _not afraid_ , sure, wait till you see it for yourself. But it sounds like your decision is made, and if were going to make this mission successful, we need to have some reconnaissance."


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note : Unfortunately, this is going to have to be the last chapter I will be able to write for Metal Menace for a few months. I will be off at the advanced training for the Army over the summer and will not be able to continue this book until the fall 2018. I hope you've enjoyed the book thus far, and will continue to read in the fall! Thank you for continuing to read and support my works!

Chapter IX

Given the circumstances, the Clones calm and collective demeanor astonishes Hera as they scout out the canyon floor. They've been walking for nearly a half hour now, and neither of them have so much as raised an eyebrow to the smallest sound of a pebble falling from the cliff's ledge above. Hera and Sean on the other hand, constantly are looking over their shoulder for an incoming Separatists patrol. Perhaps, unlike them, the Clone's are battle hardened enough to recognize when there is eminent danger.

Sean steps past his sister to get alongside Hup. He stares briefly at the trooper's blaster before looking up at his face - or his helmet. "By what you said earlier," Sean says, "I take it you've seen many battles?"

The Clone laughs slightly, "I suppose so, or at least have seen enough combat to know what war is truly like."

"Hup and I were there when the war started." Blaze adds, "That was Geonosis. The Bug's turned the planet into a Clanker factory."

Hera has no idea what these "Bugs" are, she sees no point in asking, she assumes however that it's a nickname for some alien species.

"The Sepies really put up a fight." Hup continues, his tone becoming deep and serious. "It was our first battle, and we lost a lot of good men that day." He goes quiet for a couple seconds. "Many were barely even out of training."

"Thankfully, we were a fairly older batch, and we spent on end of training up to that point."

Now Hera's curiosity is raised, she wouldn't mind getting to know how such large numbers of Clones are trained for combat at once. "And how are you trained?"

Blaze looks over his shoulder at the green Twi'lek, "Well, Clone's are generated and genetically modified for battle on Kamino. With discipline through excessive physical and combat training, we are molded into soldiers." Blaze nods towards Hup. "We were in the same squad during training, training that is to be fighter pilots. We spent months practicing maneuvers and battle drills in flight simulators, but it was nothing like that first fight, and nothing prepared us for fighting beside a Jedi."

Hera gets a little closer to the troopers, wanting to hear a little more about the Jedi. "Is that a bad thing?"

Hup laughs, "Not at all! Most Jedi I'd fight beside any day; especially our general."

"And who is that?" Sean asks instantly.

"General Mace Windu." Blaze says, "In my opinion, one of the finest Jedi to serve as a general."

Hera remembers her father saying he was meeting a Jedi before he left, the Jedi's name she remembers being Mace Windu.

"That's the Jedi father is meeting." Sean says.

The Clone's stop, and stare at Sean as if their attitude towards the sibling's have taken a sudden and drastic turn. Hera can feel her heart beating hard in her chest, their silence makes her worry.

"Your father?" Blaze asks followed immediately by Hup asking who their father is.

Hera takes over for Sean, "Cham Syndulla."

"The Freedom Fighter of Ryloth?"

Hera nods, "That's him."

"And you're his kids." Hup groans, "That changes things a bit."

Sean can't hide his sudden frustration, as his face gives it away. "And how is that?" he asks with a tad of snarkiness in his tone.

Hup flings his blaster over his shoulder. "General Windu is working towards creating an alliance between the Republic and Cham Syndulla's Freedom Fighters. If we, soldiers of the Republic, puts Syndulla's kids at risk, it may complicate a compromise between the Republic and your father."

Suddenly, C1 spins around the troopers and the Twi'leks on his center strut, with his antenna spinning while he frantically whoops. Hera just notices how silent the astromech has been - very strange for him. Blaze cocks his helmeted head, clearly bewildered of the droids bizarre antics, something to which Hera has become accustomed to. "What is the droid saying?" Blaze asks.

"He's detecting some kind of electronic pulse up ahead." Hera translates, "About two hundred meters further."

"Battle droids?" Hup asks.

C1 spins his dome around as if shaking his head. "No." Hera confirms.

Blaze thinks, "Could be a Sepi security point, or just some scavengers."

"Either way," Sean blatantly butts in, "we are in this too deep now to turn back. I'm afraid your stuck with us for now."

The Clones look at each other for what seems like several minutes, as if having a silent conversation between each other. Hera and Sean can't tell if their talking telepathically, or perhaps their helmets have built in private audio receptors, making it so that they can talk between each other without the siblings being able to eavesdrop in on their conversation.

"Very well." Hup says at last, "But until the end, you listen and follow our every order. If we tell you to hide; you will hide. If we tell you to run-"

"We will run?" Sean rolls his eyes and says sarcastically.

He sees through the corner of his eye, his sister glaring at him, as if silently correcting him for his rude comment.

Sean can feel Blaze's eyes burn through the helmet and into him. "Preciscely. And through the most discipline two soldiers can give in a situation like this."

Hera steps between Sean and Blaze. "We understand completely, and will follow to your discretion."

"Then let's keep moving." Hup says, "It's not good to stay in one place for long."

C1 indeed picked up an electronic pulse, and it was coming from the group target. The canyon narrows into a passageway, the group hunkers down behind a large boulder as the Clones carefully inspect the area from a safe one hundred meters away. Their analysis of the passageway tells them that it appears wide enough to move several battle droids through, as well as transport craft, and possibly heavy armor like tanks.

Blaze and Hup kneel down beside Hera and Sean.

"There's no sign of any cameras or surveillance equipment." Blaze says, "Whatever your readings are droid." C1 whoops as he looks at the trooper. "They must be wrong."

"Maybe the droids detecting himself." Hup laughs, "A couple circuits short."

C1 grumbles loudly, apparently not finding the troopers humor funny, then quickly moves around the cover with his grasping arms extended."

Blaze reaches out sharply in attempt to grab the droid, but fails as he returns to cover. "Hey! Get back here!"

"Is that droid malfunctioning?" Hup adds.

Hera shakes her head, "Nope. That's just his normal programing."

C1 reaches out one of his grasping arms and picks a rock up from off a boulder. The droid continues to roll up to the mouth of the tall passageway, before stopping short of twenty-five meters of it. The group watches attentively from behind the boulder.

C1's head starts spinning very fast with the rock still in his grasping arm. The droid continues to spin for a few seconds, gaining momentum, until he releases the rock and it is flung towards the passageway. The rock flies into its mouth, and the group is awestruck to see a sudden bright flash as a transparent red wall suddenly appears at the passageway entrance. The rock C1 tossed, hits the ground at the base of the wall - completely charred.

"Blast!" Blaze says aloud, "A ray shield. Invisible to the naked eye."

Hup shakes his head, "Anyone can just blindly walk into that, and, - er - well." The Clone nods at the charred rock.

Suddenly, the sound of repulsorlifts echo through the canyon. Blaze looks over the boulder to see C1 moving towards a new cover as red wall is deactivated and two battle droids on speeders come to a stop outside the entrance.

"Clankers, on speeders. Two of them." he says grimley.

The air goes still and quiet, as the distinct high pitched electronic voices of battle droids can be faintly heard talking to each other.

"Something triggered the security gate in Sector Twelve." one droid says.

"Fan out. It may be one of those local rebels." the other orders.

"Your circuits are cross wired. If it was them, the gate would have terminated them."

"I don't see what else it would be. The next convoy isn't scheduled to arrive for another two rotations."

Hup motions to bring the group closer together to talk under a whisper. "We have to take out those droids, if they find C1, they'll get an idea we're here. Two good shots to the head will take them out."

"Agreed." Hera compiles, "But don't hit their heads."

"That's the best way to take them out." Blaze puts.

"You're going to have to trust me on this one. I have a plan."

Sean looks over his shoulder at Hera, "I think C1's ahead of you."

They carefully look over the rock to see the astromech moving out of cover and towards the droids with his grasping arms up.

"Oh no." Hera says.

"Is he surrendering?" Sean asks.

Hera shakes her head and smiles, "I'm afraid not."

C1 gets the attention of battle droid patrol. The two droids quickly move over to the astromech with their blaster's raised.

"You stupid little astromech!" one of them say before demanding snobbishly for a droid, "What are you doing out here? Where is your owner?"

C1 gives out a series of angry sounding whoops.

"An independent droid?" the other battle droid says in a profound tone, "You need a maintenance exam. Come with us."

C1 whoops again, insisting he is an "independent droid".

"Resist and you will be terminated."

C1 abruptly goes silent and puts his grasping arms high in the air.

Hup nudges Blaze. "Time to do something."

"On it." Blaze assures.

Blaze takes a deep breath before jumping up from behind the cover with his blaster raised, it only takes a split second before his sight is on droid left of C1. He fires two shots and the second bolt drops the droid with a clean shot in the chest.

"What the!" the last droid yells in alarm.

C1 suddenly extends his spark rod and connects the current to the battle droids knee joint. Sparks pulse through the droids body until it's functions fry and it falls forward. Once it's on the ground, C1 takes out his circular saw attachment and effortlessly severs the droids head from it's body as he laughs.

The Clone's and Twi'leks get out from behind cover and hurry over to C1. They look over the results to the droids quick thinking in distracting the droids long enough for Blaze to blast one of them and C1 to fry another - _and take a souvenir_.

Hup laughs upon seeing the headless droid. "Would you look at that! This astromechs chopin' up Clankers as if they're nothing!"

C1 seems to be pleased with the Clones remark. While it runs through Hera's head a couple times. _Chopin' up Clankers_.

 _Chopin', chop._ Hera think's to herself, _Chop._

"How about that?" She says aloud.

"What?" Sean asks.

Hera smiles as she looks at the droid. "Well, I've been meaning to come up with a name for C1. I do with all my projects. So how about ' _Chop'_?"

"Not bad." Sean says with a grin. "But better yet, what about 'Chopper'?"

C1 lets out a bunch of excited whoops while throwing his arms around as if fighting a ghost.

"I think he likes it." Hera observes, "Alright then, _Chopper_ it is."


	10. Chapter 10

It wasn't easy for Hera and Sean to sneak Hup and Blaze into their house. A couple times they were almost certain their mother had caught them. Not that she would likely be opposed to sheltering the troopers given their circumstances, it's only a matter of keeping their intent of destroying the canyon a secret from her. The group hides out in Hera's workshop, trying to keep their voices low to avoid their mother hearing them.

Hera places her safety goggles back on her head as she sets her laser torch aside after cutting into Chopper's souvenir battle droid head.

"So why did you need the head?" Hup asks as he sets his helmet and blaster down on the workbench.

"Simple." Hera says as she combs through the mesh of wires in the droids head, "We want to find out what the Separatists are using the passageway for, odds are, this droid that was guarding the entryway will know."

"That's right." Blaze says looking over at Hera while he shows Sean how to properly hold his blaster. "The Clankers said something about a convoy."

Hera smiles, "And if I can just hack into the droids databank, we should be able to just find out what that convoy is hauling."

Hup laughs, "Smart kid."

Hera extends her arm out and grabs the auxiliary cord connected to her small holotable. She pushes aside the droids wires until she spots its aux-port that connects to its databank, she plugs the aux-prong into the port before looking over her shoulder at Chopper. "Alright, Chop, access the terminal and see what you can find on the passage."

"In the canyon," Sean says, "The droid said 'Sector Twelve', see if you can find anything on 'Sector Twelve'."

Chopper says a few whoops as he performs a datascan on the droid. In a matter of moments, Chopper activates the holotable and an holographic map of the passage appears with a manifest of details next to it.

Hup hums as he closely analysis the manifest. "The passage seems to be a simple munitions route; ammunition, tanks, cannons, anything."

"But a ray shield for a munitions route? Why?" Blaze asks.

Sean gets an idea, "To guard it from the Republic or from Father?"

"Unlikely." Hup dismisses Sean, "The front lines are far from the passage. There's no reason for ground troops to move on the area, aside from taking out one of their supply lines, there's no strategic value to taking it. A simple bombing run, our job, would have been sufficient to destroying their supply line."

The room goes silent for a moment as everyone tries to theorize the purpose of the ray shields.

A thought comes to Hera. "What if the ray shield isn't meant to keep something out, as it is to keep something _in_?"

All eyes fall on Hera.

"Possible." Blaze says, "But if that's the case, _what_ are the Clanker's trying to keep in?"

"Maybe we need to recon the area some more to find out." Hera adds.

Hup shakes his head, "It's too dangerous, after Chopper's little stunt on the patrol-" Hup notions to Chopper; Chopper garbles irritably back. "The Clanker's have likely bumped up security on the passage after that patrol didn't report in. Any further recon will result in a higher risk of being exposed, and we are significantly outnumbered."

Blaze adds, "Two Clones, two kids, and an old astromech, against a potential army of battle droids. It'll be hard enough to destroy the passage, without our Y-wings, we're not even equipped to do so."

Chopper starts to let out a series of whoops directed at Hera. Hera nods as if understanding everything the droid is saying.

"What's that rust bucket saying?" Sean asks.

"He says we don't need the Y-wings." Hera translates, "We'll use the explosives from the munitions convoy, the manifest lists one of the primary items they transport are proton bombs."

Hera thinks for a moment. "Yes, that could work. If we can just get to those bombs, I can set up a remote detonator that we can use to blow up the convoy as it enters the passage; destroying it and cutting the supply line."

Blaze laughs. "There's no 'just' about it, Hera. Don't get me wrong, it is a good plan, however that convoy is going to be heavily guarded, there is no way to arm the bombs. Approaching that convoy would be suicide."

Silence once again fills the workshop, until Sean stands up and states, "Actually, I think we will do just that."

Everyone looks to Sean with raised eyebrows to his favoring of such a fatal move.

"Here me out." he turns his attention to Hera, "Hera, remember that electromagnetic pulse generator you worked on a while back?"

"I do." Hera answers as she puts her hands on her hips.

"What if we used your generator to temporarily stun the convoy, giving us just enough time to arm the bombs. Then the convoy will-"

"Continue on towards the passage." Hera finishes, "And once it gets there." she smiles.

"Kaboom."

"That might work." Hup says with a grin, "Not a bad idea kid."

Hera waves her hands in front of her, "But I'm not sure if my generator will work. It's been a while since I've worked on it, and there were still some things I have to tweak on it."

"Can you do it?" Sean asks.

"Certainly."

"You have one day before that convoy comes through, can you do it in that time?"

Hera rubs her head, "It won't be easy, especially considering testing the generator may just be when we need it. But yes, I can do it."

Blaze places his hand on Hera's shoulder, "Given what we're going up against, you two may our only chance in finishing this mission."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Chopper sticks his head out from around the workbench and lets out some concerning whoops to the sight of Hera working on her EMP generator. The droid wasn't too fond of her working on it the night before either.

"Relax, Chop." Hera assures, "Even if the generator released a pulse, it would only stun you for a short period."

Sean sits up on the table next to Chopper. "You saying that would be _bad?_ It would be nice to get a break from his constant complaining."

Chopper whoops furiously at Sean before charging him with his grasping arms out. However, Sean is effortlessly able to keep the droid back by simply pushing his foot into the astromechs dome.

Sean smiles, amused with his satisfaction of keeping Chopper at bay. It quickly fades though when choper extends his shock arm and delivers Sean a mild electric surge through his body.

Sean exaggerates each syllable in the droids name as he yells at him before aggressively kicking the droid back.

Hera rolls her eyes and shakes her head to their childish antics. "Maybe a little stunning wouldn't be a bad idea after all - for both of you." Hera looks towards Chopper. "Might reset your motivator and give you an attitude adjustment, Chop."

"Ha!" Blaze laughs from behind Hera, who is playing a game of Sabacc with Hup in the corner. "That droid is no different now than he was before leaving the cruisers hangar! Stubborn, bold, and has the tendency to be a pain in the ass. Much like Flash was." he give a quick and faint laugh. "It's no wonder they got along; a perfect pair."

The Clones are quiet in remembering both their comrade and brother.

"Yeah." Hup says sincerely, "But good soldiers nonetheless."

Hera looks back at the two. "We will make sure his death does not go in vein, by completing his mission and destroying that passage."

The Clones say nothing, only give a little nod. More than likely, they are trying to hide what little doubt they have that the mission will be a success. Something Hera too tries to hide from herself, and especially Sean.

Hera turns back to her generator in the effort to not think about it. The generators inside is an elaborate mess of parts, Hera finds it amusing considering she's always considered the EMP generators functions to be fairly simple. With the flip of the ignition switch, the spark causes the electron rotating disc inside to start spinning. Friction between the disc and the graphite lined sphere surrounding the disc occurs, generating the charge; the faster the disc moves over time, the more electricity is generated. The charge is attracted to the magnetic steel rod in the center of the disc, the rod transfers the current into the power box, where it starts to charge. The power box has a power release switch that transfers the charge through the conducting wires into the amplifiers on the right and left sides of the generator, from there the power is converted into a pulse that is emitted at a max range of a 200 meter radius, max effective range of 150 meters.

Once the box reaches 1,500 microwatts, it is ready to disperse a pulse that is lethal to droids but not to organic beings. However for this mission, 750 microwatts will be enough to just stun the droids for a short period of time before their emergency power is activated automatically.

Hera takes one of the conducting wires and connects it to the terminal of the amplifier. A small spark flashes as the two metal couplings touch; a small amount of power must have been stored in the powerbox prior to Hera putting it in the generator. The small spark though causes Chopper to go berserk in thinking the generator has been powered up and was about to release a pulse. The droid extends his arms as he cries out in terror before wheeling himself quickly out of the room.

Hup and Blaze just laugh, Hera bites her lower lip in trying not to laugh.

"That reminds me," she says before facing the troopers, "You are going to need to remove your helmets once the generator is charged and ready. The pulse will knock out the droids, but will also interfere harshly with any frequencies your comms are set to, it could blow out your eardrums."

Blaze nods, "Noted, thanks for the heads up."

"That's all dependent on if it will even work." Sean adds, "You sure it will?"

"I built it, of course it will." Hera plays, "But it probably wouldn't hurt to test it."

Hera looks towards the doorway, knowing Chopper is shielding himself behind it's frame. "Chop, you might want to leave the house for this."

Chopper whoops as if saying "no problem" before the squealing sound of his struts gets faint the further down the hall he gets.  
"It will be a mild shock," Hera continues, "probably make the lights flicker once. We can't test it at the charge we'll use on the attack, at least not until we actually need it, but this will at least show us if the amplifiers are working properly."

"Won't mom be suspicious with the lights flickering?" Sean asks

Hera frowns, "That's gonna have to be issue when it arises." She looks to the Clones, "Just be ready to hide if she comes in, Sean will watch the door for her."

The Clones nod in agreement.

"Alright." Hera says looking to the generator. "Let's test it out."

She flips the ignition switch and the generator starts to hum to life with the disc spinning

inside, "Beginning charge, I'll charge it until it reaches 100 microwatts before releasing its energy."

Hera closely watches the dial next to the amplifier switch as it's needle starts to slowly rise indicating the power boxes charge. The charge reaches 50 microwatts, it will only be a matter of seconds before it makes 100.

She places her finger on the amplifier switch as she silently begs one last time for the generator to work. "Releasing pulse in 3….2….1." The moment the dial reaches 100 microwatts, Hera flips the switch upward, and the generator starts to hiss.

Sparks fly as the charge courses through the wires and into the amplifiers. A faint crack is heard when the charge pulses from the amplifiers and spreads into the space around them. All electronics in the room crackle and pop as the lights flicker before going completely dark, leaving everyone blind.

"I thought you said the lights would only flicker." Sean's voice says in the darkness.

Almost immediately after Sean's comment, the lights overhead turn back on with the rest of the house. "The power generator must have restored." Hera says with certainty, "As I thought, it was only enough to knock it out temporarily." She smiles. "The generator will work."

Sean jumps back into the room, his eyes wide. "That's great and all, but new problem, Mother's coming."

Hera quickly gets up and runs to her supply closet in the corner of the room. She opens the door and motions to the Clones to come over; they willingly do as instructed.

"Hide in here and stay quiet." Hera says under her breath as they get in.

She shuts the door behind them before lunging back into her chair next to the EMP generator moments before her mother pokes her head into the room. With one eyebrow raised, she looks at Sean, who's standing in the doorway and tries to maintain an innocent look on his face, as if having no memory of the power going out.

"Why do I have a feeling that was you two?" she says with sarcasm.

Sean looks back at Hera imploring for her to quickly come up with an excuse.

"It was, Mother." Hera says, "Sean and I were testing out my EMP generator." Hera motions towards the generator on the table. "It was only set for a mild shock. We thought we could set it up along the outside of the house perimeter, it can be our first line of defense if the Separatists come our way."

Sean's face lights up, pleased by his sisters quick thinking. "We can also construct a shield generator for our second!" His remark is quickly countered by a subtle glare from Hera.

Their mother laughs, "That's not a bad idea! And what's our third line?"

"Chopper." Hera plays along.

Their mother's eyes squint in confusion, " _Chopper?_ Who's Chopper?"

It hadn't occurred to Hera that her mother doesn't know C1's nickname.  
"C1, Mother, we named him Chopper." Hera corrects.

As if waiting for his cue to make an entrance, Chopper maneuvers beside their mother's leg to get into the workshop while dramatically announcing himself with a couple whoops.

She laughs some more, "This little guy? He must be pretty brave to take on so many battle droids single handedly."

Chopper flexes his grasping arms and perks up, taking pride in her comment.

Hera smiles and nods, "He is, Mother."

"This is really considerate of you two to be trying to help." She says happily, "But you shouldn't need to. Your Father says the war is far from here, likely will never come close."

She walks out the door, but quickly pokes her head back in. "However, if you do any more 'tests' with that thing, could you tell me beforehand? I was in the middle of a call with your Aunt Cora when your generator knocked out the signal, your poor aunt is probably beside herself in thinking something bad happened."

"Yes, Mother, sorry." Hera says.

As soon as Hera can no longer hear her mother's footsteps, she quickly opens the closet door to free the Clones from their cramped hiding place. Cramped indeed, she should have thought to move some her old projects and junk to give the troopers a little more room. Hup accidentally knocks some power converter parts off a shelf as he steps out.

"Sorry about the mess." she says sympathetically, "I'll clear it out of the way in case this has to become a regular hiding spot."

"Not a problem." Blaze assures, "In the end, the important thing is we were able to confirm the generator will work."

Hup grabs his blaster from off the table where he and Blaze were playing Sabacc before the kids mother walked in; it's a wonder she hadn't spotted it, or their helmets resting under the table. They are going to have to be more cautious next time. "Until it comes time we need to use it." he says raising the weapon, "You two should get some experience handling a weapon, just in case things don't go as planned."


End file.
